Top 10 Business Ideas

When canvassed, previous readers regularly report that several key ideas really leap out at them as valuable lessons they should take to their own businesses...

#1 Thinking Differently about BusinessFar and away the most dramatic and impactful idea people come away with is Paddi's stunning example of Thinking Differently about business and what its stated focus should be compared to what the conventional norm says -- that of people & enjoyment VS profit & products as a primary strategy for being even more successful and profitable in business.

#2 Team CommunicationThat how people communicate in the office environment can have such a dramatic effect on team spirit, company culture and performance.

#3 Critical Non-Essentials™That paying attention to detail in the Little Things surrounding the customer experience could have such a dramatic impact on the way customers feel about the business, and more importantly about the kind of stories they tell their friends.

#4 ABCD's of CustomersThat not all customers are created equal and that a business with only A and B class clients thrives, while those with C and D class customers pay for the privilege of serving those difficult people who just don't fit in with your style of business.

#5 Paddi's 'Welcome Book'
That in many situations you can circumvent a difficult and lengthy sales process simply by carefully choreographing the way people learn about your business, by building trust and by pre-empting common fears and concerns.

#6 The 'Privilege' of Referrals
That you can actually ask clients to refer their friends - and make it a 'privilege' of being a client in your business - and that they won't laugh in your face! That you can control what is normally a haphazard and random process so that it becomes a reliable primary source of new business for you.

#7 Money up Front
In professional services businesses, that you can actually ask people to pay up-front and in advance of completing their treatment, and in most cases if you've built trust they will happily comply -- no more chasing accounts and no more pretending to be nice because people owe you money! Now you can genuinely help your clients and enjoy their company without the issue of the money getting in the way.

#8 Care Person System - Continuity of Care
That one person caring for a clients interaction with a business through the entirety of their experience is, although contrary to convention thinking, by far the most personal and rewarding way to interact with customers (for clients and your team alike). That the concept of division of labour (for efficiency) is fundamentally flawed when it comes to desired outcomes in service situations.

#9 Exclusivity
That it is OK and even useful to narrow your focus on your ideal market segment and indeed that it is a powerful tool to make it a privilege to become a customer (as Paddi did by locking his front door and going "By Invitation Only" with new clients).
That you don't have to be all things to all people and indeed that trying to be so is a recipe for business disaster.

#10 Business Family
That the people in our business teams have a greater effect on our happiness and enjoyment than anyone else, including the customers. If you look after your team, they will look after the customers, who in turn will look after you. Your customers are not the most important people in your business -- you and your team are. So treat them like important members of family and provide a working environment where they enjoy themselves and their work, too.

And Paddi's True Genius...
And of course, Paddi's true genius is not that he conceived of such radically different views of business, but that he created business systems to make the above Top 10 ideas, and many others just like them, happen smoothly and consistently, day in and day out, in his business with seemingly very little effort on his behalf -- apart, of course, from the tremendously painful journey full of mistakes which led to these conclusions!

Paddi truly has built a 'happiness-centred business' where he makes very good money working short weeks with people whose company he enjoys, and it's how he has built the above ideas into clever business systems that make it happen as if by magic.